Scientia Magna

Vol.4 (2008), No. 3, 79-80

One problem related to the
Smarandache quotients
Xiaojun Qi

Department of Mathematics, Northwest University, Xian, Shaanxi, P.R.China

Department Of Mathematics, Tianshui Normal University, P.R.China
Abstract For any positive integer n 1, the Smarandache quotients Q(n) is dened as the
smallest positive integer k such that n k is a factorial number. That is, Q(n) = min{k :
n k = m!}. The main purpose of this paper is using the elementary method to study
the properties of the Smarandache quotients sequence, and give an identity involving the
Smarandache quotients sequence.
Keywords The Smarandache quotients, identity, innite series, elementary method.
1. Introduction and results
In his book Only problems, not solutions, professor F.Smarandache introduced many
functions, sequences and unsolved problems, many authors had studied it, see references [1],
[2] and [3]. One of the unsolved problems is the Smarandache quotients sequence {Q(n)}, it
is dened as the smallest positive integer k such that n k is a factorial number. That is,
Q(n) = min{k : n k = m!}, where m is a positive integer. For example, from the denition of
Q(n) we can nd that the rst few values of Q(n) are Q(1) = 1, Q(2) = 1, Q(3) = 2, Q(4) = 6,
Q(5) = 24, Q(6) = 1, Q(7) = 720, Q(8) = 3, Q(9) = 80, Q(10) = 12, Q(11) = 3628800,
Q(12) = 2, Q(13) = 479001600, Q(14) = 360, Q(15) = 8, Q(16) = 45, .
In reference [4], professor F.Smarandache asked us to study the properties of the sequence
{Q(n)}. About this problem, some authors had studied it, and obtained several simple results.
For example, Kenichiro Kashihara [5] proved that for any prime p, we have Q(p) = (p 1)!.
In this paper, we use the elementary method to study the properties of an innite series
involving the Smarandache quotients sequence, and give an interesting identity. That is, we
shall prove the following conclusion:
Theorem 1. Let d(n) denotes the Dirichlet divisor function, then we have the identity
+

n=1
1
Q(n) n
=
+

m=1
m d(m!)
(m + 1)!
.
Let Q
1
(2n 1) denotes the smallest positive odd number such that Q
1
(2n 1) (2n 1)
is a two factorial number. That is, Q
1
(2n 1) (2n 1) = (2m 1)!!, where (2m 1)!! =
1 3 5 (2m 1). Then for the sequence {Q
1
(2n 1)}, we can also get the following:
80 Xiaojun Qi No. 3
Theorem 2. Let d(n) denote the Dirichlet divisor function, then we also have the identity
+

n=1
1
Q
1
(2n 1) (2n 1)
= 2
+

m=1
m d((2m 1)!!)
(2m + 1)!!
.
2. Proof of the theorems
In this section, we shall use the elementary method to complete the proof of our theorems
directly. For any positive integer n, let Q(n) = k, from the denition of Q(n) we know that
k is the smallest positive integer such that n k = m!. So k must be a divisor of m!. This
implies that k | m!, and the number of all k (such that k | m!) is d(m!). On the other hand, if
k | (m1)!, then Q(n) = k, and the number of all k (such that k | (m1)!) is d((m1)!). So
the number of all k (such that k | m! and k (m 1)!) is d(m!) d((m 1)!). That is means,
the number of all k (such that Q(n) = k and Q(n) n = m! ) is d(m!) d((m1)!). From this
we may immediately get
+

n=1
1
Q(n) n
=
+

m=1
+

n=1
Q(n)n=m!
1
m!
=
+

m=1
#{Q(n) n = m!}
m!
= 1 +
+

m=2
d(m!) d((m 1)!)
m!
=
+

m=1
d(m!)
m!

+

m=1
d(m!)
(m + 1)!
=
+

m=1
(m + 1) d(m!) d(m!)
(m + 1)!
=
+

m=1
m d(m!)
(m + 1)!
,
where d(m) is the Dirichlet divisor function, and #{Q(n) n = m!} denotes the number of all
solutions of the equation Q(n) n = m!. This proves Theorem 1.
Similarly, we can also deduce Theorem 2. This completes the proof of Theorems.
References
[1] F. Smarandache, Only Problems, Not Solutions, Chicago, Xiquan Publishing House,
1993.
[2] Zhang Wenpeng, The elementary number theory (in Chinese), Shaanxi Normal Univer-
sity Press, Xian, 2007.
[3] Tom M.Apostol, Introduction to Analytic Number Theory, New York, Springer-Verlag,
1976.
[4] F. Smarandache, Sequences of numbers involved in unsolved problems, Hexis, Phoenix,
2006.
[5] Kenichiro Kashihara, Comments and topics on Smarandache notions and problems,
Erhus University Press, USA, 1996.
Scientia Magna
Vol. 4 (2008), No. 3, 81-85
The Smarandache bisymmetric
determinant natural sequence
A.A.K. Majumdar
Ritsumeikan Asia-Pacic University, APU, 1-1 Jumonjibaru,
Beppu-shi 875-8577, Oita-ken, Japan
majumdar@apu.ac.jp/aakmajumdar@gmail.com
Abstract Murthy [1] introduced the Smarandache Bisymmetric Determinant Natural Se-
quence. In this paper, we derive the sum of the rst n terms of the sequence.
Keywords The Smarandache bisymmetric determinant natural sequence, the n-th term,
the sum of the rst n terms.
1. Introduction
The Smarandache bisymmetric determinant natural sequence (SBDNS), introduced by
Murthy [1], is dened as follows.
Denition 1.1. The Smarandache bisymmetric determinant natural sequence, {SBDNS(n)},
is

|1| ,

1 2
2 1

1 2 3
2 3 2
3 2 1

1 2 3 4
2 3 4 3
3 4 3 2
4 3 2 1

, ...

.
A rst few terms of the sequence are 1, -3, -8, 20, 48, -112, -256, 576, .
The following result is due to Majumdar [2].
Theorem 1.1. Let a
n
be the n-th term of the Smarandache bisymmetric determinant
natural sequence. Then,
a
n
=

1 2 3 n 2 n 1 n
2 3 4 n 1 n n 1
3 4 5 n n 1 n 2
.
.
.
n 2 n 1 n 5 4 3
n 1 n n 1 4 3 2
n n 1 n 2 3 2 1

= (1)

n
2

(n + 1) 2
n2
.
82 A.A.K. Majumdar No. 3
Let {S
n
} be the sequence of n th partial sums of the sequence {a
n
}, so that
S
n
=
n

k = 1
a
k
, n 1.
This paper gives explicit expressions for the sequence {S
n
}. This is given in Theorem 3.1 in
Section 3. In Section 2, we give some preliminary results that would be necessary for the proof
of the theorem. We conclude this paper with some remarks in the nal section, Section 4.
2. Some preliminary results
In this section, we derive some preliminary results that would be necessary in deriving the
expressions of S
n
in the next section. These are given in the following two lemmas.
Lemma 2.1. For any integer m 1,

k=1,3,...,(2m1)
2
2(k1)
=
1
15
(2
4m
1).
Proof. Since

k=1,3,...,(2m1)
2
2(k1)
= 1 + 2
4
+ 2
8
+ ... + 2
4(m1)
is a geometric series with common ratio 2
4
, the result follows.
Lemma 2.2. For any integer m 1,

k=1,3,...,(2m1)
k 2
2(k1)
=
1
15
(2m 1)2
4m

1
225
(2
4m+1
17).
Proof. Denoting by s the series on the left above, we see that
s = 1 + 3 2
4
+ 5 2
8
+ + (2m 1) 2
4(m1)
, ()
so that, multiplying throughout by 2
4
, we get
2
4
s = 1 2
4
+ 3 2
8
+ + (2m 3) 2
4(m1)
+ (2m 1) 2
4m
()
Now, subtracting (**) from (*), we have
(1 2
4
)s = 1 + 2 2
4
_
1 + 2
4
+ + 2
4(m2)
_
(2m 1) 2
4m
= 1 + 2
5

_
2
4(m1)
1
2
4
1
_
(2m 1) 2
4m
=
1
15
_
2
4m+1
17
_
(2m 1) 2
4m
which now gives the desired result.
Vol. 4 The Smarandache bisymmetric determinant natural sequence 83
3. Main results
In this section, we derive the explicit expressions of the n-th partial sums, S
n
, of the
Smarandache bisymmetric determinant natural sequence.
From Theorem 1.1, we see that, for any integer k 1,
a
2k
+ a
2k+1
= (1)
k
(6k + 5)2
2(k1)
,

a
2k+2
+ a
2k+3
= (1)
k+1
(6k + 11)2
2k
,
so that
a
2k
+ a
2k+1
+ a
2k+2
+ a
2k+3
= 3(1)
k+1
(6k + 13)2
2(k1)
. (1)
Letting
S
n
= a
1
+ a
2
+ + a
n
,
we can prove the following result.
Theorem 3.1. For any integer m 0,
1). S
4m+1
=
3
5
m 2
2(2m+1)
+
31
25
2
4m

6
25
=
2
25
_
(60m + 31)2
4m1
3
_
;
2). S
4m+2
=
1
5
m 2
4m+3

11
25
2
2(2m+1)

6
25
=
2
25
_
(10m + 11)2
4m+1
+ 3
_
;
3). S
4m+3
=
3
5
m 2
4(m+1)

61
25
2
2(2m+1)

6
25
=
2
25
_
(60m + 61)2
4m+1
+ 3
_
;
4). S
4m+4
=
1
5
m 2
4m+5
+
1
25
2
4(2m+2)

6
25
=
2
25
_
(5m + 8)2
4(m+1)
3
_
.
Proof. To prove the theorem, we make use of Lemma 2.1 and Lemma 2.2, as well as
Theorem 1.1.
1). Since S
4m+1
can be written as
S
4m+1
= a
1
+ a
2
+ + a
4m+1
= a
1
+

k=1,3,...,(2m1)
(a
2k
+ a
2k+1
+ a
2k+2
+ a
2k+3
),
by virtue of (1),
S
4m+1
= a
1
+ 3

k=1,3,...,(2m1)
(1)
k+1
(6k + 13)2
2(k1)
= a
1
+ 3
_
_
_
6

k=1,3,...,(2m1)
k2
2(k1)
+ 13

k=1,3,...,(2m1)
2
2(k1)
_
_
_
.
Now, appealing to Lemma 2.1 and Lemma 2.2, we get
S
4m+1
= 1 +
_
6
5
(2m 1)2
4m

2
25
(2
4m+1
17)
_
+
13
5
(2
4m
1)
84 A.A.K. Majumdar No. 3
which now gives the desired result after some algebraic manipulations.
2). Since
S
4m+2
= S
4m+1
+ a
4m+2
,
from part (1) above, together with Theorem 1.1, we get
S
4m+2
=
_
3
5
m 2
2(2m+1)
+
31
25
2
4m

6
25
_
(4m + 3) 2
4m
,
which gives the desired expression for S
4m+2
after algebraic simplications.
3). Since
S
4m+3
= S
4m+2
+ a
4m+3
=
_

1
5
m 2
4m+3

11
25
2
2(2m+1)

6
25
_
(4m + 4) 2
4m+1
,
we get the desired expression for S
4m+3
after simplications.
4). Since
S
4m+4
= S
4m+3
+ a
4m+4
=
_

6
5
m 2
4m+3

61
25
2
2(2m+1)

6
25
_
(4m + 5) 2
4m+2
,
the result follows after some algebraic simplications.
The case when m = 0 can easily be veried.
Hence, the proof is complete.
4. Remarks
Theorem 3.1 in the previous section gives the n-th term of the sequence of partial sums,
{S
n
}, in all the possible four cases. The following lemmas prove that, in each case, S
n
is indeed
an integer.
Lemma 4.1. For any integer m 0, 2
4m1
(60m + 31) 3 is divisible by 25.
Proof. The result is true for m = 0, 1. So, we assume its validity for some positive integer
m. Now, since
[2
4m+3
{60(m + 1) + 31} 3] {2
4m1
(60m + 31) 3} = 25(36m + 57)2
4m1
,
it follows, by virtue of the induction hypothesis, that 2
4m+3
{60(m+1) +31}3 is also divisible
by 25. Thus, the result is true for m + 1 as well, completing induction.
Lemma 4.2. For any integer m 0, 2
4m+1
(10m + 11) + 3 is divisible by 25.
Proof. is by induction on m. The result is clearly true for m = 0, 1. Now, assuming its
validity for some positive integer m, since
[2
4m+5
{10(m + 1) + 11} + 3] {2
4m+1
(10m + 11) + 3} = 25(6m + 13)2
4m+1
,
is divisible by 25, it follows that the result is true for m + 1 as well. This completes the proof.
Lemma 4.3. For any integer m 0, 2
4m+1
(60m + 61) + 3 is divisible by 25.
Vol. 4 The Smarandache bisymmetric determinant natural sequence 85
Proof. is by induction on m. The result is clearly true for m = 0, 1. We now assume that
the result is true for some positive integer m. Then, since
[2
4m+5
{60(m + 1) + 61} + 3] {2
4m+1
(60m + 61) + 3} = 25(36m + 75)2
4m+1
,
this, together with the induction hypothesis, shows that the result is true for m + 1 as well.
This completes the proof by induction.
Lemma 4.4. For any integer m 0, 2
4(m+1)
(5m + 32) 3 is divisible by 25.
Proof. We rst assume that the result is true for some positive integer m. Now, since
[2
4(m+2)
{5(m + 1) + 13} 3] {2
4(m+1)
(5m + 13) 3} = 25(3m + 8)2
4(m+1)
,
this together with the induction hypothesis, shows that 2
4(m+2)
{5(m + 1) + 13} 3 is also
divisible by 25. This, in turn, shows that the result is true for m + 1 as well. To complete, we
have to prove the validity of the result for m = 0, 1, which can easily be checked.
The Smarandache bisymmetric arithmetic determinant sequence, introduced by Murthy
[1], is
_

_
a,

a a + d
a + d a

a a + d a + 2d
a + d a + 2d a + d
a + 2d a + d a

, ...
_

_
.
The n-th term of the above sequence has been found by Majumdar [2] to be
(1)

n
2

_
a +
n 1
2
d
_
(2d)
n1
.
Note that the Smarandache bisymmetric determinant natural sequence is a particular case of
the Smarandache bisymmetric arithmetic determinant sequence when a = 1 and d = 1.
Open Problem: To nd a formula for the sum of the rst n terms of the Smarandache
bisymmetric arithmetic determinant sequence.

References
[1] Amarnath Murthy, Smarandache Determinant Sequences, Smarandache Notions Jour-
nal, 12(2001), 275-278.
[2] A. A. K. Majumdar, On Some Smarandache Determinant Sequences, Scientia Magna,
4(2008), No.2, 80-95.